Sociology in Modules 2Nd Edition Schaefer Test Bank Full Chapter PDF

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Chapter 10 - Racial and Ethnic Inequality
Chapter 10
Racial and Ethnic Inequality
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What term is used by sociologists to describe a group that is set apart from others because of
physical differences that have taken on social significance?
A. ethnic group
B. racial group
C. social group
D. reference group
Type: D
2. Asian Americans are identified in the text as an example of a(an)

A. ethnic group.
B. racial group.
C. reference group.
D. status group.
Type: C
3. African Americans are identified in the text as an example of a(an)

A. ethnic group.
B. racial group.
C. reference group.
D. status group.
Type: C
10-1
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4. An ethnic group is a group

A. that is set apart from others because of physical differences.
B. that is set apart from others because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns.
C. whose members have significantly less control over their own lives than the members of a
dominant group.
D. that has reached very moral decisions about a way of life.
Type: D
5. Characteristics of national origin or distinctive cultural patterns are used primarily by a

society to set apart
A. minority groups.
B. ethnic groups.
C. racial groups.
D. polarization groups.
Type: I
6. German Americans, Italian Americans, and Norwegian Americans are all examples of
A. racial groups.
B. ethnic groups.
C. stereotypes.
D. none of these
Type: C
7. A minority group is a group

A. that is set apart from others because of physical differences.
B. that is set apart from others because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns.
C. whose members have significantly less control over their own lives than the members of a
dominant group.
D. that has reached very moral decisions about a way of life.
Type: D
10-2
8. Which of the following is a minority group in the U.S.?

A. women
B. Protestants
C. Whites
D. all of these
Type: C
9. In sociological terms, members of a minority group

A. experience unequal treatment.
B. are outnumbered by the dominant group.
C. speak a different language than the dominant group.
D. are members of a different religious group than the dominant group.
Type: I
10. In sociological terms, members of a minority group

A. experience unequal treatment.
B. have a strong sense of group solidarity.
C. generally marry others from the same group.
D. all of these
Type: I
11. Which of the following is not considered a minority group in the U.S.?
A. Native-American women
B. African-American men
C. White men
D. Jewish-American women
Type: C
10-3
12. Sociologists have identified five basic properties—unequal treatment, physical or cultural
traits, ascribed status, solidarity, and in-group marriage—to describe
A. minority groups.
B. racial groups.
C. ethnic groups.
D. polarization.
Type: P
13. Minority group members have a strong sense of group solidarity. Which sociologist noted
that individuals make distinctions between members of their own group, or the in-group, and
everyone else, or the out-group?
A. Erving Goffman
B. William Graham Sumner
C. Manning Nash
D. Karl Marx
Type: S
14. What percentage of the United States is projected to be Hispanic according to Census
estimates by the year 2100?
A. 100%
B. 86%
C. 60%
D. 33%
Type: I
10-4
15. In 1940, white non-Hispanics made up 87% of the United States. What percentage did they
represent as of 2007?
A. 18%
B. 30%
C. 46%
D. 66%
Type: I
16. In 2100, white non-Hispanics will make up what percentage of the population following the
Census estimates?
A. 35%
B. 40%
C. 48%
D. 53%
Type: I
17. Which of the following statements about racial groups in the U.S. is true?
A. Throughout history, many Southern states defined a person as Black, regardless of how s/he
looked, if s/he had "only a single drop of Black blood".
B. Over six million people in the U.S. are multiracial.
C. The largest multiracial group is of White and Native-American ancestry.
D. all of these
Type: I
18. Which sociologist observed that people respond not only to the objective features of a
situation or person but also to the meaning that situation or person has for them?
A. William I. Thomas
B. William Graham Sumner
C. Karl Marx
D. Robert Merton
Type: S
10-5
19. William I. Thomas observed that people respond not only to the objective features of a
situation or person, but also to the meaning that situation or person has for them. This
observation reflects which sociological perspective?
A. functionalist perspective
B. conflict perspective
C. interactionist perspective
D. global perspective
Type: P
20. A stereotype is a(an)

A. factually induced belief about another person.
B. unreliable generalization about all members of a group that does not recognize individual
differences within the group.
C. person or group that one blames irrationally for one's own problems or difficulties.
D. belief that one race is superior and that all others are innately inferior.
Type: D
21. An unreliable generalization about all members of a group which does not recognize
individual differences within the group is referred to as
A. differential association.
B. exploitation.
C. a stereotype.
D. institutional discrimination.
Type: C
10-6
22. A person proclaiming loudly that "all Black people are lazy, shiftless, and collect welfare"
is an example of
A. discrimination.
B. a stereotype.
C. pluralism.
D. exploitation theory.
Type: C
23. Which of the following terms refers to a negative attitude toward an entire category of
people?
A. exploitation
B. prejudice
C. discrimination
D. pluralism
Type: D
24. Which of the following is an example of prejudice?

A. John, who lives in Texas, believes that the U.S. is the best country in the world.
B. Mary believes that all men are "pigs".
C. Arnold refuses to hire Catholics to work in his office.
D. Dawn likes to ice skate.
Type: C
25. Prejudice is a(n) ________________ while discrimination is a(n) __________________.

A. belief, action
B. action, belief
C. action, action
D. belief, belief
Type: D
10-7
26. Ethnocentrism refers to

A. a negative attitude toward an entire category of people, such as a racial or ethnic minority.
B. the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice.
C. the process by which a person forsakes his or her own cultural tradition to become part of a
different culture.
D. the tendency to assume that one's own culture and way of life are superior to all others.
Type: D
27. Joe grew up in an Italian household in an Italian community in New Jersey. He believes that
the traditional Italian celebration of Easter, which includes a large number of family members
and mountains of food consumed during a long dinner, is the best way to celebrate this holiday.
Joe is illustrating
A. prejudice.
B. ethnocentrism.
C. discrimination.
D. pluralism.
Type: C
28. Racism is defined as

A. a belief that one race is supreme and that all others are innately inferior.
B. the tendency of people to respond to and act on the basis of stereotypes.
C. the systematic killing of an entire people or nation.
D. the denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice.
Type: D
29. When racism prevails in a society, members of subordinate groups generally experience
A. exploitation.
B. prejudice.
C. discrimination.
D. all of these
Type: I
10-8
30. Hate crime laws are directed at crimes involving issues of

A. race/ethnicity.
B. religion.
C. sexual orientation.
D. all of these
Type: D
31. Which of the following victim statuses may motivate a hate crime?
A. race/ethnicity
B. religion
C. sexual orientation
D. all of these
Type: D
32. The use of the principle of race neutrality to defend a racially unequal status quo is referred
to as
A. color-blind racism.
B. prejudice.
C. discriminatory racism.
D. none of these
Type: I
33. The process of denying opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of
prejudice or for other arbitrary reasons is known as
A. stereotyping.
B. ethnocentrism.
C. discrimination.
D. segregation.
Type: D
10-9
34. Which of the following would not be considered discrimination?

A. Sue believes poor people are criminals.
B. Sue refuses to give Jane a ride to work because Jane is poor.
C. Jane, who is poor, vandalizes the cars of rich people who she believes are snobs.
D. Sue refuses to hire Jane because she is poor.
Type: I
35. Prejudice is to discrimination as

A. norm is to value.
B. attitude is to behavior.
C. behavior is to attitude.
D. good is to bad.
Type: I
36. The following group has the highest income level:

A. White, non-hispanic men
B. Asian men
C. Hispanic men
D. African American men
Type: I
37. The following group has the lowest income level:

A. White non-hispanic women
B. Asian women
C. Hispanic women
D. African American women
Type: I
10-10
38. An invisible barrier that blocks the promotion of a qualified individual in a work
environment because of the individual's gender, race, or ethnicity is known as
A. pluralism.
B. a glass ceiling.
C. institutional discrimination.
D. exploitation theory.
Type: D
39. In 1995, the federal Glass Ceiling Commission found that glass ceilings
A. leak.
B. continue to block women and minority men from top management positions in the nation's
industries.
C. continue to block White men from top management positions in the nation's industries.
D. continue to block women, minority men, AND White men from top management positions
in the nation's industries.
Type: I
40. Which of the following aspects of discrimination is the focus of feminist scholar Peggy
McIntosh's research?
A. glass ceilings
B. White privilege
C. Asian minorities
D. African-American dominance
Type: I
10-11
41. Institutional discrimination is the

A. denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals or groups that results from the normal
operations of society.
B. belief that individuals or groups should be denied equal rights and opportunities.
C. stereotyping of people who work in public or private institutions.
D. establishment of laws that intentionally deny opportunities and equal rights to members of
minority groups.
Type: D
42. At one time, many Puerto Ricans were effectively barred from serving in the Chicago
Police Department because they failed to meet the height requirement. This was an example of
A. prejudice.
B. scapegoating.
D. a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Type: C
43. Which of the following illustrates institutional discrimination?

A. A country club has a rule specifying that no Italians or Jews may be members.
B. A mental institution in New York will not allow residents of Connecticut to receive services
in the facility.
C. To save money, a city fires all employees hired during the last three years. During the last
three years, the city has had an aggressive minority-hiring program, and the majority of those
fired are therefore members of various minority groups.
D. A prejudiced personnel officer refuses to hire women.
Type: C
10-12
44. Which of the following is considered a form of institutional discrimination?

A. a firm's rule that only English be spoken at work
B. a law school's policy of giving preference in admissions to children of influential alumni
C. a firm's prohibition against the use of part-time workers
D. all of these
Type: C
45. Which of the following represents a new area of institutional discrimination in the U.S.?
A. electronic pager ownership
B. cell phone registration
C. the Aviation and Transportation Security Act governing airport screeners
D. digital media sales
Type: I
46. Passage of the recent Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which stipulated that all
airport screeners must be U.S. citizens, has been noted by many observers to be a form of
A. prejudice.
B. White privilege.
D. affirmative action.
Type: I
47. Which sociological perspective views race from the macrolevel and purports the economic
structure as a central factor in the exploitation of minority groups?
Type: P
10-13
48. Which of the following has identified three functions that racially prejudiced beliefs have
for the dominant group—one being that they provide a moral justification for maintaining an
unequal society that routinely deprives a minority group of its rights and privileges?
A. Arnold Rose
B. Harry Edwards
C. Thomas Pettigrew
D. Manning Nash
Type: S
49. Which sociologist has used the exploitation theory to explain the basis of racial
subordination in the U.S.?
A. Oliver Cox
B. Robert Blauner
C. Harry Edwards
D. both Oliver Cox and Robert Blauner
Type: S
50. Exploitation theory is a

A. Weberian theory that views racial subordination as benefiting society, because it creates a
supply of cheap labor.
B. Parsonian theory that views ethnic subordination as a means of regulating social interactions
between dominant and subordinate groups.
C. Spencerian theory that views ethnic subordination as a valuable means of social control.
D. Marxist theory that views racial subordination in the U.S. as a manifestation of the class
system inherent in capitalism.
Type: D
10-14
51. An approach to racism which emphasizes that racism keeps minorities in low-paying jobs,
thereby supplying the capitalist ruling class with a pool of cheap labor, is based on the work of
which classical theorist?
A. Émile Durkheim
B. Talcott Parsons
C. Karl Marx
D. Auguste Comte
Type: S
52. Which of the following is a function of racism?

A. Racist views provide a moral justification for maintaining an unequal society.
B. Racist beliefs discourage the subordinate minority from attempting the question their status
as doing so would question the foundation of the society.
C. Racial myths suggest that any societal change (like ending discrimination) would only bring
greater poverty to the subordinate group and dominant group.
D. All of the above
Type: C
53. A sociologist argues that the capitalist ruling class is willing to tolerate high rates of illegal
immigration because these immigrants serve as a cheap labor pool. This sociologist is most
likely to draw upon
A. the contact hypothesis.
B. the anomie theory of deviance.
C. exploitation theory.
D. labeling theory.
Type: C
10-15
54. Recent Chinese immigrants to the U.S. often find jobs working in sweatshops in New York
City's Chinatown, where they work 16 or more hours a day in the garment industry, earning less
than minimum wage. The big businesses that hire these illegal and often uninformed
immigrants illustrate
A. the contact hypothesis.
B. exploitation theory.
C. labeling theory.
D. a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Type: C
55. Exploitation theory is useful for discussing the experiences of which minority group(s) in
the U.S.?
A. Japanese Americans
B. Chinese Americans
C. Mormons
D. both Japanese Americans and Chinese Americans
Type: I
56. The practice of assuming that people who fit certain descriptions are likely to be engaged in
illegal activities is referred to as
A. explanative prejudice.
B. racial profiling.
C. institutionalized stereotyping.
D. contact hypothesis.
Type: S
10-16
57. Acts of racial profiling are

A. always illegal.
B. initiated by law enforcement officers.
C. opposed by the American public.
D. opposed by law enforcement officials.
Type: D
58. Interactionists would be concerned about the impact of racial profiling on

A. young children.
B. the likelihood of terrorism.
C. relationships in interracial families.
D. intergroup relations.
Type: P
59. The contact hypothesis

A. is a Marxist theory that views racial subordination in the U.S. as a manifestation of the class
system inherent in capitalism.
B. states that interracial contact between people of equal status will cause them to become less
prejudiced and to abandon previous stereotypes.
C. was a theory that gave moral support to the continued existence of apartheid in South Africa.
D. is a Parsonian theory that views ethnic subordination as a means of regulating social
interactions between dominant and subordinate groups.
Type: D
60. A White male lawyer mentors a young female Latina lawyer. According to the contact
hypothesis, this situation would be unlikely to reduce prejudice because
A. the Latina lawyer is too young to appreciate the mentoring.
B. the two people do not have equal status.
C. people with that much education are rarely prejudiced.
D. sexism is operating as well as racism.
Type: C
10-17
61. A Colombian woman and an Italian man, working together as members of a construction
crew, overcome their initial prejudices and come to appreciate each other's talents and strengths.
This is an example of
A. the self-fulfilling prophecy.
B. the contact hypothesis.
C. exploitation theory.
D. amalgamation.
Type: C
62. A farmer is called to help sandbag a levy that is about to flood his town. The farmer is
stationed between two correctional center inmates who are required to assist in the
flood-control efforts. As a result of this experience, the farmer has developed a newfound
respect for inmates. This example would be consistent with which perspective?
Type: P
63. Which sociologist suggested that interracial coalitions would most likely reduce racial and
ethnic stereotyping and prejudice?
A. Karl Marx
B. William Julius Wilson
C. Robert Blauner
D. Roscoe Cox
Type: S
10-18
64. Genocide refers to the process of

A. combining a majority group and a minority group through intermarriage to form a new
group.
B. expelling a group of people from a territory.
C. deliberately and systematically killing an entire people or the members of a nation.
D. forsaking a cultural identity in order to become part of a different culture.
Type: D
65. Expulsion refers to the process of

group.
Type: D
66. In 1979, Vietnam expelled nearly 1 million ethnic ________ partly as a result of centuries
of hostilities between the two countries.
A. Japanese
B. Chinese
C. Laotians
D. Koreans
Type: I
67. Expulsion was recently illustrated by

A. Serbian forces driving more than one million Croats and Muslims from their homes.
B. the killing of large numbers of Native Americans.
C. marriages between Whites and Native Americans producing multiracial children.
D. none of these
Type: C
10-19
68. Amalgamation refers to the process of

group.
Type: D
69. The belief that the U.S. was a "melting pot", which became very compelling in the first part
of the twentieth century, suggested that the nation had an almost divine mission to produce
A. pluralism.
B. amalgamation.
C. segregation.
D. assimilation.
Type: I
70. In Australia, when Aborigines become part of the dominant society but then refuse to
acknowledge their darker-skinned grandparents on the street, they are practicing the process
of:
A. amalgamation.
B. labeling.
C. assimilation.
D. exploitation.
Type: I
10-20
71. The Mexican people of today are the result of a gradual merging of generations of Spaniards
and Indians. This is an example of
A. amalgamation.
B. pluralism.
C. segregation.
D. assimilation.
Type: C
72. Which one of the following would not be an example of assimilation?

A. Refusing to acknowledge darker-skinned grandparents on a public street.
B. Citizens of India who adopt British traditions and customs.
C. A Muslim woman wears her traditional headscarf while out shopping in her U.S. suburb.
D. An Italian-American family changing its name to one more easily found among
White-Protestant families.
Type: I
73. Which of the following equations represents assimilation?

A. A + B + C → A
B. A + B + C = A + B + C
C. A + B + C = D
D. none of these
Type: I
74. Vladimir, a Russian immigrant to the U.S., insists that everyone call him "Joe", and he
refuses to speak Russian, even in casual conversation with Russian-speaking neighbors. This is
an example of
A. amalgamation.
B. pluralism.
C. the contact hypothesis.
D. assimilation.
Type: C
10-21
75. Segregation refers to the act of

A. deliberately and systematically killing the members of an ethnic, racial, or nationality group.
B. physically separating two groups; it is often imposed on a minority group by a dominant
group.
C. combining a majority and a minority group through intermarriage.
D. denying opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice or for
other arbitrary reasons.
Type: D
76. Which of the following would be an example of segregation?

A. Jews and Catholics marrying one another and producing children
B. interracial marriage
C. confining Japanese Americans to relocation camps during World War II
D. all of these
Type: C
77. The former policy of the South African government that was designed to maintain the
separation of Blacks and other non-Whites from the dominant Whites was known as
A. institutional discrimination.
B. apartheid.
C. afrocentricity.
D. White power.
Type: D
10-22
78. Which of the following individuals is a prominent Black activist in South Africa? He
became that country's first Black president in 1994, in the first election in which Blacks in that
country were permitted to vote.
A. J. Louw-Potgieter
B. Nelson Mandela
C. Martin Luther King, Jr.
D. Desmond Tutu
Type: S
79. Which of the following equations would represent pluralism?

A. A + B + C → A
B. A + B + C → A + B + C
C. A + B + C → D
D. none of these
Type: I
80. Pluralism in the U.S. is considered

A. a social norm.
B. an ideal more than reality.
C. a reality more than an ideal.
D. a common socialized practice.
Type: I
81. Which of the following countries exemplifies the modern pluralistic state?
A. the U.S.
B. Japan
C. Switzerland
D. Egypt
Type: I
10-23
82. According to the 2010 census, which geographic area of the U.S. contains the highest
percentage of minority groups by county?
A. the northwest
B. the northeast
C. the southeast
D. the southwest
Type: I
83. Which Black author wrote: "I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and
liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because
people refuse to see me"?
A. Nathan McCall
B. Claude Brown
C. Ralph Ellison
D. James Baldwin
Type: S
84. Which sociologist noted over 90 years ago that enslaved Blacks were in an even more
oppressive situation than other subordinate groups because, by law, they could not own
property and they could not pass on the benefits of their labor to their children?
A. Booker T. Washington
B. Malcolm X
C. W.E.B. Du Bois
D. Manning Nash
Type: S
10-24
85. Jim Crow laws were passed in Southern states to

A. enforce official segregation.
B. force legal integration.
C. allow enslavement of Blacks.
D. all of these
Type: I
86. In resisting segregation, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, founded by Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., was best known for its
A. commitment to nonviolent civil disobedience.
B. use of lawsuits in the courts.
C. strategy of running candidates for public office.
D. adherence to the philosophy of Black power.
Type: I
87. Which of the following terms refers to a political philosophy, promoted by many younger
Blacks in the 1960s, which supported the creation of Black-controlled political and economic
institutions?
A. Rainbow Coalition
B. Black Power
C. civil rights
D. manifest destiny
Type: D
88. The median household income of Blacks today is still only ________ percent that of
Whites.
A. 35
B. 50
C. 60
D. 85
Type: I
10-25
89. The civil rights movement of the 1960s had little impact on
A. school segregation.
B. housing segregation.
D. employment segregation.
Type: I
90. Suicide rates for Native-American teenagers is four times higher than the rate for other
teenagers; one Native-American teenager in ________ has attempted suicide.
A. two
B. four
C. six
D. eight
Type: I
91. How many of the recognized Indian tribes are involved in gambling ventures since
Congress passed the Indian Gambling Regulatory Act in 1988?
A. about one-third
B. about one-half
C. about three-fourths
D. all tribes are involved
Type: I
92. Which of the following group makes up the largest percentage of the Asians and Pacific
Islanders group?
A. Japanese
B. Chinese
C. Korean
D. Asian Indians
Type: I
10-26
93. Which racial or ethnic group has the highest rate of welfare dependency in the U.S.?
A. African Americans
B. Hispanics
C. Southeast Asians
D. Puerto Ricans
Type: I
94. The largest influx of Vietnamese immigration occurred:

A. During and after World War I
B. During and after World War II
C. During and after the Vietnam War
D. All of these
Type: I
95. Cuban immigrants during the Castro regime differed from other immigrants in which of the
following:
A. They had higher rates of poverty.
B. They had higher rates of illiteracy.
C. They had higher rates of education.
D. They were white.
Type: I
96. Which of the following terms refers to first-generation Japanese immigrants?

A. Issei
B. Sansei
C. Nisei
D. Cantonese
Type: D
10-27
97. A young Japanese man migrated to the U.S. in 1893 and was able to get a menial job. This
man was an example of a(an)
A. Issei.
B. Nisei.
C. Sansei.
D. none of these
Type: C
98. Children born in the U.S. to first-generation Japanese immigrants are known as
A. Issei.
B. Nisei.
C. Sansei.
D. none of these
Type: C
99. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed unprecedented legislation entitled the Civil
Liberties Act, which required the federal government to apologize for the forced relocation of
____________________ to "evacuation camps" during World War II.
A. Japanese Americans
B. Jewish Americans
C. African Americans
D. Vietnamese Americans
Type: I
100. Arab Americans are descendents of people from the _____ nations of the Arab world.
A. 5
B. 17
C. 22
D. 48
Type: I
10-28
101. The single most unifying force among Arabs is

A. the Arabic language.
B. the Muslim religion.
C. racial heritage.
D. common political views.
Type: I
102. Which population group represents the largest minority in the U.S.?
A. African Americans
B. Latinos
C. Asian Americans
D. Jews
Type: I
103. Since the change in U.S. immigration policy during the 1960s to encourage immigration of
relatives of U.S. residents and people with desirable skills, where have a majority of immigrants
originated from?
A. Asia
B. Europe
C. Latin America
D. both A and C
Type: D
10-29
True / False Questions
104. The social definitions of race and ethnicity affect a person's place and status in a
stratification system.
TRUE
105. The term "racial group" is used to describe a group that is set apart from others because of
obvious cultural distinctions.
FALSE
106. Racism is functional in US society.

TRUE
107. In the view of sociologists, the total number of people in a group determines the group's
status as either a social minority or dominant group.
FALSE
108. The "one-drop rule" stipulated that if a person had even a single drop of "Indian blood",
that person was viewed as Indian.
FALSE
109. Many individuals, especially young adults, struggle against social pressure to choose a
single identity, and instead openly embrace multiple heritages.
TRUE
110. In the view of sociologists, the distinction between racial and ethnic minorities is
clear-cut.
FALSE
10-30
111. The majority of hate crimes reported to authorities involve racial bias.
TRUE
112. Discriminatory practices continue in part because various individuals and groups actually
benefit from racial and ethnic discrimination in terms of money, status, and influence.
TRUE
113. The contact hypothesis suggests that if an African-American boss and her Italian
employee work together for several years in the same office, they will become more prejudiced
toward one another.
FALSE
114. The majority of Native American tribes benefit financially from casinos.
FALSE
115. Color-blind racism ignores white privelage.

TRUE
116. The majority of Arabs are Muslim.

FALSE
10-31
Essay Questions
117. Describe the differences and similarities between racial groups and ethnic groups. Give
some examples to illustrate your answer.
Answers will vary
118. Compare and contrast "prejudice" and "discrimination" and give examples to illustrate
your definitions.
Answers will vary
119. Briefly differentiate the views on racial discrimination from the functionalist, conflict, and
interactionist perspectives.
Answers will vary
120. Compare and contrast the concepts of "amalgamation", "assimilation", "segregation", and
"pluralism" and give examples to illustrate your answer.
Answers will vary
121. Discuss the various barriers that can impede the assimilation process for Latinos in the
U.S.
Answers will vary
10-32
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gloomy-looking grove skirting the back of the village. It was in vain
that I attempted to unravel the origin or meaning of this superstition;
to all my questions the only answer I could obtain was that such was
the fashion of the country—a reason which they always had at hand
when puzzled, as they always were when the subject related to any
of their numerous superstitions. The fact is, that these practices still
remain, though their origin has long since been buried in oblivion.”
As with us, “to astonish the natives” is an almost universal
weakness, so is it the sable savage’s delight and ambition to
“astonish the white man;” and should he succeed, and the odds are
manifestly against him, there are no bounds to his satisfaction. The
traveller Laing, while travelling through Timmanee, a country not very
far from that over which old King Passol held sway, experienced an
instance of this. He was invited by the chief to be present at an
entertainment resembling what we recognize as a “bal masqué,” as it
embraced music and dancing. The music, however, was of rather a
meagre character, consisting of a single instrument made of a
calabash and a little resembling a guitar. The player evidently
expected applause of the white man, and the white man generously
accorded it. The musician then declared that what our countrymen
had as yet witnessed of his performance was as nothing compared
with what he had yet to show him. Holding up his guitar, he declared
that with that potent instrument, the like of which was not to be found
throughout the length and breadth of Timmanee, he could cure
diseases of every sort, tame wild beasts, and render snakes so
docile that they would come out of their holes and dance as long as
the music lasted. Mr. Laing begged the enchanter to favour him with
a specimen of his skill. The enchanter was quite willing. Did anything
ail the traveller? Was any one of his party afflicted with disease? no
matter how inveterate or of how long standing, let him step forward,
and by a few twangs on the guitar he should be cured. Mr. Laing,
however, wishing perhaps to let the juggler off as lightly as possible,
pressed for a sight of the dancing snakes, on the distinct
understanding that they should be perfectly wild snakes, and such as
had never yet been taken in hand by mortal. The musician cheerfully
assented, and, to quote the words of the “eye-witness,” “changed the
air he had been strumming for one more lively, and immediately
there crept from beneath the stockading that surrounded the space
where we were assembled a snake of very large size. From the
reptile’s movements, it seemed that the music had only disturbed its
repose, and that its only desire was to seek fresh quarters, for
without noticing any one it glided rapidly across the yard towards the
further side. The musician, however, once more changed the tune,
playing a slow measure, and singing to it. The snake at once
betrayed considerable uneasiness, and decreased its speed. ‘Stop
snake,’ sung the musician, adapting the words to the tune he was
playing, ‘you go a deal too fast; stop at my command and show the
white man how well you can dance; obey my command at once, oh
snake, and give the white man service.’ Snake stopped. ‘Dance, oh
snake!’ continued the musician, growing excited, for a white man has
come to Falaba to see you! dance, oh snake, for indeed this is a
happy day!’ The snake twisted itself about, raised its head, curled,
leaped, and performed various feats, of which I should not have
thought a snake capable. At the conclusion the musician walked out
of the yard followed by the reptile, leaving me in no small degree
astonished, and the rest of the company not a little delighted that a
black man had been able to excite the surprise of a white one.”
In no part of Africa do we find a greater amount of religious
fanaticism than in Old Kalabar. The idea of God entertained by the
Kalabarese is confined to their incomprehensibility of natural causes,
which they attribute to Abasi-Ibun, the Efick term for Almighty God;
hence they believe he is too high and too great to listen to their
prayers and petitions. Idem-Efick is the name of the god who is
supposed to preside over the affairs of Kalabar, and who is
connected mysteriously with the great Abasi, sometimes represented
by a tree, and sometimes by a large snake, in which form he is only
seen by his high priest or vice-regent on earth—old King Kalabar. Mr.
Hutchinson, who resided in an official capacity in this queer heathen
country, once enjoyed the honour of an acquaintance with a
representative of Abasi-Ibun. “He was a lean, spare, withered old
man, about sixty years of age, a little above five feet in height, grey-
headed, and toothless. He wore generally a dressing-gown, with a
red cap, bands of bamboo rope round his neck, wrists, and ankles,
with tassels dangling at the end. In case of any special crime
committed, for the punishment of which there is no provision by
Egbo law, the question was at once referred to King Kalabar’s
judgment, whose decision of life or death was final. King Ergo and all
the gentlemen saluted him by a word of greeting peculiar to himself,
‘Etia,’ meaning in English, you sit there, which, amongst persons of
the slave order, must be joined with placing the side of the index
fingers in juxtaposition, and bowing humbly, as evidence of
obeisance. He offered up a weekly sacrifice to Idem of goats, fowls,
and tortoise, usually dressed with a little rum. When famine was
impending, or a dearth of ships existed at old Kalabar, the king sent
round to the gentlemen of the town an intimation of the necessity of
making an offering to the deity, and that Idem-Efick was in want of
coppers, which of course must be forwarded through the old king. He
had a privilege that every hippopotamus taken, or leopard shot, must
be brought to his house, that he may have the lion’s share of the
spoil. Since my first visit to Kalabar this old man has died, and has
yet had no successor, as the head men and people pretend to
believe ‘twelve moons (two years) must pass by before he be dead
for thrice.’ Besides this idea of worship, they have a deity named
Obu, made of calabash, to which the children are taught to offer up
prayer every morning, to keep them from harm. Idem-Nyanga is the
name of the tree which they hold as the impersonation of Idem-Efick;
and a great reverence is entertained for a shrub, whose pods when
pressed by the finger explode like a pistol. In all their meals they
perform ablution of the hands before and after it; and in drinking, spill
a teaspoonful or so out as a libation to their deity before imbibing.
When they kill a fowl or a goat as a sacrifice, they do not forget to
remind their god of what ‘fine things’ they do for him, and that ‘they
expect a like fine thing in return.’ Ekponyong is the title given to a
piece of stick, with a cloth tied round it at the top, and a skull placed
above the cloth, which is kept in many of their yards as a sort of
guardian spirit. In nearly all their courts there is a ju-ju tree growing
in the centre, with a parasitic plant attached to it, and an enclosure of
from two to four feet in circumference at the bottom of the stem,
within which skulls are always placed, and calabashes of blood at
times of sacrifice. At many of the gentlemen’s thresholds a human
skull is fastened in the ground, whose white glistening crown is
trodden upon by every one who enters.
“A strange biennial custom exists at old Kalabar, that of purifying
the town from all devils and evil spirits, who, in the opinion of the
authorities, have during the past two years taken possession of it.
They call it judok. And a similar ceremony is performed annually on
the gold coast. At a certain time a number of figures, styled
Nabikems, are fabricated and fixed indiscriminately through the
town. These figures are made of sticks and bamboo matting, being
moulded into different shapes. Some of them have an attempt at
body, with legs and arms to resemble the human form. Imaginative
artists sometimes furnish these specimens with an old straw hat, a
pipe in the mouth, and a stick fastened to the end of the arm, as if
they were prepared to undertake a journey. Many of the figures are
supposed to resemble four-footed animals, some crocodiles, and
others birds. The evil spirits are expected, after three weeks or a
month, to take up their residence in them, showing, to my thinking, a
very great want of taste on the part of the spirit vagrant. When the
night arrives for their general expulsion, one would imagine the
whole town had gone mad. The population feast and drink, and sally
out in parties, beating at empty covers, as if they contained tangible
objects to hunt, and hallooing with all their might and main. Shots are
fired, the Nabikems are torn up with violence, set in flames, and
thrown into the river. The orgies continue until daylight dawns, and
the town is considered clear of evil influence for two years more.
Strange inconsistency with ideas of the provision necessary to be
made for the dead in their passage to another world. But heathenism
is full of these follies, and few of them can be more absurd than their
belief that if a man is killed by a crocodile or a leopard, he is
supposed to have been the victim of some malicious enemy, who, at
his death, turned himself into either of these animals, to have
vengeance on the person that has just been devoured. Any man who
kills a monkey or a crocodile is supposed to be turned into one or the
other when he dies himself. On my endeavouring to convince two
very intelligent traders of Duketown of the folly of this, and of my
belief that men had no more power to turn themselves into beasts
than they had to make rain fall or grass grow, I was met with the
usual cool reply to all a European’s arguments for civilization, ‘It be
Kalabar fash(ion), and white men no saby any ting about it.’ The
same answer, ‘white men no saby any ting about it,’ was given to me
by our Yoruba interpreter when up the Tshadda, on my doubting two
supposed facts, which he thus recorded to me. The first was, that the
Houessa people believe in the existence of the unicorn, but his
precise location cannot be pointed out. He is accredited to be the
champion of the unprotected goat and sheep from the ravages of the
leopard; that when he meets a leopard he enters amicably into
conversation with him, descants upon his cruelty, and winds up, like
a true member of the humane society, by depriving the leopard of his
claws. On my asking if a clawless leopard had ever been discovered,
or if the unicorn had proposed any other species of food as a
substitute, observing me smile with incredulity, he gave me an
answer similar to that of the Kalabar men, in the instance mentioned.
The second, to the effect that a chameleon always went along at the
same pace, not quickening his steps for rain or wind, but going
steadily in all phases of temperature, changing his hue in
compliment to everything he met, turning black for black men, white
for white, blue, red, or green, for any cloth or flowers, or vegetables
that fall in his way; and the only reason he gives for it when
questioned on the subject is, that his father did the same before him,
and he does not think it right to deviate from the old path, because
‘same ting do for my fader, same ting do for me.’”
Quite by accident it happens that this answer of the Yoruba man
to Mr. Hutchinson’s arguments forms the concluding line of the many
examples of Savage Rites and Superstitions quoted. It is, however,
singularly apropos. In this single line is epitomised the guiding
principle of the savage’s existence—“Same ting do for my fader,
same ting do for me.” This it is that fetters and tethers him. He is
born to it, lives by it, and he dies by it.
Burying Alive in Figi.
PART XII.
SAVAGE DEATH AND BURIAL.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Killing to cheat death—Preparing the king’s “grave grass”—The tomb

and its living tenant—Figian mourning symbols—Murder of sick
Figians—“Pray don’t bury me!”—The ominous cat clawing—The
sacrifice of fingers—The token of the bloody apron—The art of
embalming—The sin-hole—Ceremonies at King Finow’s funeral
—Heroic appeals to the departed king—The scene at the
sepulchre—The journey of the sand bearers—The Mée too Buggi
—Devotion of Finow’s fishermen—The Sandwich Islanders’
badge of mourning—Putting the tongue in black—A melancholy
procession—The house of Keave—The pahio tabu.
t by no means follows that a disrespect for human life is

synonomous with a personal indifference to death. To
whatever savage land we turn—to the banks of the
Mosquito, where lives the barbarous Sambo Indian; to the
deserts of Africa, the abode of the Griqua and Damara; to
the shores of solitary lakes far away in Northern America—we find a
horror of death, or rather of the work of death’s hands, singularly
incompatible with the recklessness of life observable in the countries
named.
No country on the face of the earth, however, can vie in the matter
of death and burial ceremonials with Figi. Here it would seem at first
sight that fear of death was unknown, so much so that parents will
consent to be clubbed to death by their children, and mothers
murder and with their own hands bury their children—where even
the grave has so few terrors that people will go down alive into it. It
may, however, be worth considering whether this apparent trifling
with life may not have for its source dread of the grim reaper in such
blind and ignorant excess as to lead to killing to save from dying—to
cheat death in fact, and enable the cunning cannibal to slink out of
the world unmissed and unquestioned as to the errors of his life. This
may seem the wildest theory; but it should be borne in mind that in
Figi, as in many other barbarous countries, it is believed that all that
is evil of a man lives after him, and unless necessary precautions are
adopted, remains to torment his relations; it is not improbable,
therefore, that these latter, if not the ailing one himself, may favour
this death-cheating system.
As regards burying alive, this at least may be said in favour of the
Figians: they are no respecters of persons. The grey hairs of the
monarch are no more respected than those of the poorest beggar in
his realm. Indeed, according to the testimony of an eye-witness—Mr.
Thomas Williams—the king is more likely to be sent quick to the
grave than any one else. Here is an instance:—
“On my first going to Somosomo, I entertained a hope that the old
king would be allowed to die a natural death, although such an event
would be without precedent. The usage of the land had been to
intimate that the king’s death was near by cleaning round about the
house, after which, his eldest son when bathing with his father took a
favourable opportunity, and dispatched him with his club.
“I visited him on the 21st, and was surprised to find him much
better than he had been two days before. On being told, therefore,
on the 24th that the king was dead, and that preparations were being
made for his interment, I could scarcely credit the report. The
ominous word preparing urged me to hasten without delay to the
scene of action, but my utmost speed failed to bring me to Nasima—
the king’s house—in time. The moment I entered it was evident that
as far as concerned two of the women I was too late to save their
lives. The effect of that scene was overwhelming. Scores of
deliberate murderers in the very act surrounded me: yet there was
no confusion, and, except a word from him who presided, no voice—
only an unearthly, horrid stillness. Nature seemed to lend her aid and
to deepen the dread effect; there was not a breath stirring in the air,
and the half subdued light in that hall of death showed every object
with unusual distinctness.
“All sat on the floor; the middle figure of each group being held in
a sitting posture by several females, and hidden by a large veil. On
either side of each veiled figure was a company of eight or ten strong
men, one company hauling against the other on a white cord which
was passed twice round the neck of the doomed one, who thus in a
few minutes ceased to live. As my self command was returning to
me the group furthest from me began to move; the men slackened
their hold and the attendant women removed the large covering,
making it into a couch for the victim.... One of the victims was a stout
woman and some of the executioners jocosely invited those who sat
near to have pity and help them. At length the women said ‘she is
cold.’ The fatal cord fell and as the covering was raised I saw dead
the oldest wife and unwearied attendant of the old king.”
These victims are used to pave the king’s grave. They are called
grass, and when they are arranged in a row at the bottom of the
sepulchre the king’s corpse is couched on them. It is only, however,
great chiefs who demand so extensive a human couch; a dignitary of
minor importance is content with two bodies as his grave floor:
sometimes a man and a woman, sometimes two women. If an
important personage dies it is considered intolerable if his
confidential man—his bosom friend and adviser—should object to
accompany his master as grass. It is very common, too, when a
great man dies in Figi to strangle and bury with him an able bodied
man, who takes with him his club to protect the exalted one from the
malicious attacks of his enemies in the land of spirits. For the same
purpose a bran new and well oiled club is placed in the dead hand of
the chief himself. To return, however, to the dead king of Somosomo
and Mr. Williams’ narrative:
“Leaving the women to adjust the hair of the victims, to oil their
bodies, cover their faces with vermilion, and adorn them with flowers,
I passed on to see the remains of the deceased Tnithaken. To my
astonishment I found him alive. He was weak but quite conscious,
and whenever he coughed placed his hand on his side as though in
pain. Yet his chief wife and a male attendant were covering him with
a thick coat of black powder, and tying round his arms and legs a
number of white scarfs, fastened in rosettes with the long ends
hanging down his sides. His head was turbaned in a scarlet
handkerchief secured by a chaplet of small white cowries, and he
wore armlets of the same shells. On his neck was the ivory necklace
formed in long curved points. To complete his royal attire according
to the Figian idea, he had on a very large new masi, the train being
wrapped in a number of loose folds at his feet. No one seemed to
display real grief, which gave way to show and ceremonies. The
whole tragedy had an air of cruel mockery. It was a masquerading of
grim death—a decking as for a dance bodies which were meant for
the grave.
“I approached the young king whom I could not regard without
abhorrence. He seemed greatly moved and embraced me before I
could speak. ‘See,’ said he, ‘the father of us two is dead! His spirit is
gone. You see his body move, but that it does unconsciously.’”
Knowing that it would be useless to argue the point the missionary
ceased to care about the father, but begged of the young king that
no more victims might be sacrificed, and after some little show of
obstinacy gained his point.
Preparations were then made for conveying the still living man to
the grave. The bodies of the women—the grave grass—were
fastened to mats and carried on biers; they were carried behind the
king, whose stirring body was not brought out at the door of the
house, but the wall being knocked down he was carried through that
way (Mr. Williams is unable to account for this singular proceeding).
The funeral procession moved down to the sea-side and embarked
in a canoe which was silently paddled to the sepulchre of Figian
royalty. Here arrived, the grave was found ready dug, the murdered
grass was packed at the bottom, and after the king’s ornaments
were taken off him he too was lowered into the hole, covered with
cloth and mats and then with earth, and “was heard to cough after a
considerable quantity of soil had been thrown into the grave.”
Although this is an end to the body, many other ceremonies
remain for performance. The most ordinary way to express sorrow
for the dead in Figi is to shave—the process being regulated
according to the affinity of the mourner to deceased. Fathers and
sons will shave their heads and cheeks as bare as pumpkins;
nephews and cousins shave merely the summit of the cranium.
Among the women, however, the mourning customs are much more
horrible and lasting in effect. Some burn fantastic devices on their
bodies with hot irons, while others submit to have their fingers
chopped off. On the occasion of the royal death and burial above
narrated, “orders were issued that one hundred fingers should be cut
off; but only sixty were amputated, one woman losing her life in
consequence. The fingers being each inserted in a slit reed were
stuck along the eaves of the king’s house.”
“Mourning Suit of Leaves.”

Among the various modes of expressing grief among the Figians,
Mr. Williams records that of lying out night after night along the grave
of a friend; allowing the great mop of hair to go untouched for
months; abstinence from oiling the body (a tremendous
mortification); and the wearing garments of leaves instead of cloth.
These practices, however, are optional; others there are that are
imperative, and among them one almost unmentionable from its
loathsome character. The ceremony is called Vathavidiulo, or
“jumping of worms,” and consists of the relatives of deceased
assembling the fourth day after the burial, and minutely discussing
the present condition of the body of the departed. The next night,
however, is not passed in so doleful a manner; for then takes place
the Vakadredre, or “causing to laugh,” when the most uproarious fun
is indulged in for the purpose of enabling the mourners to forget their
grief. On the death of a man high in station, a ludicrous custom is
observed, says Williams:—“About the tenth day, or earlier, the
women arm themselves with cords, switches, and whips, and fall
upon any men below the highest chiefs, plying their whips
unsparingly. I have seen grave personages, not accustomed to move
quickly, flying with all possible speed before a company of such
women. Sometimes the men retaliate by bespattering their
assailants with mud; but they use no violence, as it seems to be a
day on which they are bound to succumb.”
It will be easily understood that since so little respect is paid to the
lives of kings and great warriors, bloodshed and barbarous murder
are rife enough among the poorer classes. And there can be no
doubt that, although the various frightful customs peculiar to the
Figians have their foundation, and are still upheld as a rule in a
purely religious spirit, extensive advantage is taken of the same in
furthering mercenary and spiteful ends. The brother of a dead Figian
of considerable means, might, for instance, find it convenient to
persuade the widows—the heirs to the property—to show their
devotedness by consenting to be strangled and buried with their
husband, that he may, as next of kin, take immediate possession of
the goods and chattels, etc. Where the dead man was poor, his
relatives would probably rather be at the pains to convince the widow
of her duty than at the expense of maintaining her.
The murder of the sick among the Figians is regarded as a simple
and proper course, and one that need not be observed with anything
like secrecy. A fellow missionary of the Rev. Mr. Williams found a
woman in Somosomo who was in a very abject state through the
protracted absence of her husband. For five weeks, although two
women lived in the same house, she lay uncared for, and was
reduced to a mere skeleton, but being provided with food and
medicine from the mission-house, began to get well. One morning,
as an attendant was carrying the sick woman’s breakfast, he was
met and told by her relations that he could take the food back—the
woman was buried. The man then related to the missionaries that
while he was at the sick house the previous day, an old woman
came in, and addressing the patient, said, “I came to see my friend,
and inquire whether she was ready to be strangled yet; but as she is
strong we will let her he a while.” It would seem, however, that in the
course of an hour or so the woman’s barbarous nurses saw fit to
alter their plans.
This is not the only instance of the kind quoted by travellers
familiar with the manners and customs of the Figians. Take the
following:—“Ratu Varam (a chief) spoke of one among many whom
he had caused to be buried alive. She had been weakly for a long
time, and the chief, thinking she was likely to remain so, had a grave
dug. The curiosity of the poor girl was excited by loud exclamations,
as though something extraordinary had happened, and on stepping
out of the house she was seized and thrown into the grave. In vain
she shrieked with horror, and cried out, ‘Do not bury me! I am quite
well now!’ Two men kept her down by standing on her, while others
threw the earth in upon her until she was heard no more.”
If a Figian ceases to exist, towards the evening a sort of wake is
observed. Parties of young men sit and “watch” the body, at the
same time chaunting the most melancholy dirges. Early the next
morning the preparations for the funeral and the funeral feast
commence. Two go to dig the grave, others paint and dress the
body, while others prepare the oven, and attend to culinary matters.
The two grave diggers seated opposite each other make three feints
with their digging sticks, which are then stuck into the earth, and a
grave rarely more than three feet deep is prepared. Either the grave-
diggers or some one near repeat twice the words “Figi Tonga.” The
earth first thrown up is laid apart from the rest. When the grave is
finished mats are laid at the bottom, and the body or bodies,
wrapped in other mats or native cloths, are placed thereon, the
edges of the mats folding over all; the earth is then thrown in. Many
yards of the man’s masi are often left out of the grave and carried in
festoons over the branches of a neighbouring tree. The sextons go
away forthwith and wash themselves, using during their ablution the
leaves of certain shrubs for purification, after which they return and
share the food which has been prepared for them. Mr. Williams
further relates that a respectable burial is invariably provided for the
very poorest of the community, and that he has repeatedly seen poor
wretches unable to procure a decent mat to lie on while alive,
provided with five or six new ones to lie on in the grave. Moreover,
the fact of a person dying far out at sea, or even being killed in battle
with a distant tribe, whose horrid maws have provided him a
sepulchre, does not diminish the responsibility of his relations in the
matter of his funeral obsequies. The koloku, as the after-death
ceremonies are named, takes place just as if the man had died at
home, and the desire to make sacrifice is even more imperative. For
instance, a bold and handsome Figian chief, named Ra Nibittu, was
drowned at sea. As soon as the doleful news reached the land,
seventeen of his wives were straightway strangled, and their bodies
used as grass in a grave dedicated to the dead Ra Nibittu. Again,
after the news of the massacre of the Namena people at Vicca in
1839, eighty women were strangled to accompany the spirits of their
murdered husbands.
In Figi, as in England, the popular superstition concerning the
midnight howling of a dog is prevalent, and thought to betoken
death. A cat purring and rubbing against the legs of a Figian is
regarded just as ominously. If, where a woman is buried, the marks
of cat scratchings are found on the soil, it is thought certain evidence
that while in life the woman was unchaste. Should a warrior fail after
repeated efforts to bring his complexion by aid of various pigments to
the orthodox standard of jetty blackness, he regards himself, and is
regarded by others, as a doomed man, and of course the more he
frets and fumes about the matter, the more he perspires, and the
less chance he has of making the paint stick.
A proper winding up of this string of curious horrors connected
with Figian death and burial, will be the Figian doctrine of the
universal spread of death, as furnished to Mr. Williams, from whom it
is only justice once more to remark these particulars are chiefly
derived. “When the first man, the father of the human race was being
buried, a god passed by this first grave and enquired what it meant.
On being informed by those standing by that they had just buried
their father, he said, ‘Do not inter him; dig the body up again.’—‘No,’
was the reply, ‘we cannot do that; he has been dead four days, and
is unfit to be seen.’—‘Not so,’ said the god, ‘disinter him, and I
promise you he shall live again.’ Heedless, however, of the promise
of the god, these original sextons persisted in leaving their father’s
remains in the earth. Perceiving their perverseness, the god said, ‘By
refusing compliance with my demands, you have sealed your own
destinies. Had you dug up your ancestor, you would have found him
alive, and yourselves also as you passed from this world, should
have been buried, as bananas are, for the space of four days, after
which you should have been dug up, not rotten, but ripe. But now, as
a punishment for your disobedience, you shall die and rot.’—‘Ah!’
say the Figians, after tearing this legend recounted, ‘Ah! if those
children had dug up that body!’”
On this and many adjacent islands, cutting off a portion of the little
finger as a sacrifice to the gods for the recovery of a superior sick
relation is very commonly done; indeed there is scarcely a person
living at Tonga but who has lost one or both or a considerable portion
of both little fingers. Those who can have but few superior relations,
such as those near akin to Tooitonga, or the king, or Veachi, have
some chance of escaping, if their relations are tolerably healthy. It
does not appear that the operation is painful. Mr. Mariner records
that he has witnessed more than once little children quarrelling for
the honour (or rather out of bravado) of having it done. The finger is
laid flat upon a block of wood, a knife, axe, or sharp stone is placed
with the edge upon the line of the proposed separation, and a
powerful blow given with a mallet or large stone, the operation is
finished. From the nature and violence of the action the wound
seldom bleeds much. The stump is then held in the smoke and
steam arising from the combustion of fresh plucked grass; this stops
any flow of blood. The wound is not washed for two days; afterwards
it is kept clean, and heals in about two or three weeks without any
application whatever. One joint is generally taken off, but some will
have a smaller portion, to admit of the operation being performed
several times on the same finger, in case a man has many superior
relations.
In certain islands of the Polynesian group there was observed at
the approaching dissolution of a man of any importance a rite terribly
fantastic and cruel. As soon as the dying man’s relatives were made
acquainted with the impending calamity, they straightway and
deliberately proceeded to act the part of raving mad men. “Not only,”
says Ellis, “did they wail in the loudest and most affecting manner,
but they tore their hair, rent their garments, and cut themselves with
knives or with shark’s teeth in the most shocking manner. The
instrument usually employed was a small cane about four inches
long, with five or six shark’s teeth fixed in on opposite sides. With
one of these instruments every female provided herself after
marriage, and on occasions of death it was unsparingly used.
“With some this was not sufficient: they prepared a sharp
instrument, something like a plumber’s mallet, about five or six
inches long, rounded at one end for a handle, and armed with two or
three rows of shark’s teeth fixed in the wood at the other. With this,
on the death of a relative or friend, they cut themselves unmercifully,
striking the head, temples, cheeks, and breast, till the blood flowed
profusely from the wounds. At the same time they uttered the most
deafening and agonizing cries; and the distortion of their
countenances, their torn and dishevelled air, the mingled tears and
blood that covered their bodies, their wild gestures and unruly
conduct, often gave them a frightful and almost inhuman
appearance. I have often conversed with these people on their
reasons for this strange procedure, and have asked them if it was
not exceeding painful to cut themselves as they were accustomed to
do. They have always answered that it was very painful in some
parts of the face, that the upper lip or the space between the upper
lip and the nostrils was the most tender, and a stroke there was
always attended with the greatest pain.... The females on these
occasions sometimes put on a kind of short apron of a particular sort
of cloth, which they held up with one hand, while they cut themselves
with the other. In this apron they caught the blood that flowed from
these grief-inflicted wounds until it was almost saturated. It was then
dried in the sun and given to the nearest surviving relations, as a
proof of the affection of the donor, and was preserved by the
bereaved family as a token of the estimation in which the departed
had been held.
“I am not prepared to say that the same enormities were practised
here as in the Sandwich Islands at these times, but on the death of a
king or principal chief, the scenes exhibited in and around the house
were in appearance demoniacal. The relatives and members of the
household began; the other chiefs of the island and their relatives
came to sympathize with the survivors, and on reaching the place
joined in the infuriated conduct of the bereaved. The tenantry of the
chiefs came also, and giving themselves to all the savage infatuation
which the conduct of their associates, or the influence of their
superstitious belief inspired, they not only tore their hair and
lacerated their bodies till they were covered with blood, but often
fought with clubs and stones till murder followed.”
As soon as an individual of the islands above alluded to died, a
ceremony known as “tahna tertera” was performed, with a view of
discovering the cause of death. In order to effect this the priest took
his canoe, and paddled slowly along on the sea near the house
where the body was lying, to watch the passage of the spirit, which
they supposed would fly upon him with the emblem of the cause for
which the person died. If he had been cursed by the gods, the spirit
would appear with a flame, fire being the agent employed in the
incantations of the sorcerers; if killed by the bribe of some enemy
given to the gods, the spirit would appear with a red feather, an
emblem signifying that evil spirits had entered his food. After a short
time the tahna or priest returned to the house of the deceased, and
told the survivors the cause of his death, and received his fee, the
amount of which was regulated by the circumstances of the parties.
To avert mischief from the dead man’s relations, the priest now
performed certain secret ceremonies, and in a day or two he again
made his appearance with a cheerful countenance, to assure them
that they need no longer go in fear, received another fee, and took
his departure.
The bodies of the chiefs and persons of rank and affluence were
embalmed. The art of embalming, generally thought to indicate a
high degree of civilization, appears to have been known and
practised among the Polynesians from a very remote period, and
however simple the process, it was thoroughly successful. The
intestines, brain, etc., were removed, and the body fixed in a sitting
posture, and exposed to the direct rays of the sun. The inside was,
after a while, filled with shreds of native cloth, saturated with
perfumed oil, with which the exterior was plentifully and vigorously
anointed. This, together with the heat of the sun and the dryness of
the atmosphere, favoured the preservation of the body.
Under the influence of these causes, in the course of a few weeks
the muscles were dried up, and the whole body appeared as if
covered with a kind of parchment. It was then clothed, and fixed in a
sitting posture; a small altar was erected before it, and offerings of
fruit, food, and flowers daily presented by the relatives or the priest
appointed to attend the body. In this state it was kept many months,
when the body was buried, and the skull preserved by the family.
In commencing the process of embalming, and placing the body
on the bier, another priest was employed, who was called the tahna
lure tiapapau, or “corpse-praying priest.” His office was singular.
When the house for the dead had been erected, and the corpse
placed upon the bier, the priest ordered a hole to be dug near the
foot of it. Over this hole the priest prayed to the god by whom it was
supposed the spirit of the deceased had been required. The purport
of his prayer was, that all the dead man’s sins, and especially that for
which his soul had been called away, might be deposited there; that
they might not attach in any degree to the survivors; and that the
anger of the god might be appeased. After the prayer, the priest,
addressing the deceased, exclaimed, “With you let the guilt now
remain.” Then a pillar of wood was planted in the “sin-hole,” and the
earth filled in. Then the priest, taking a number of small slips of
plantain leaf-stalk, approached the body, and laid some under the
arms, and strewed some on the breast, saying, “There are your
family; there are your children, there is your wife, there is your father,
and there is your mother. Be contented in the world of spirits. Look
not towards those you have left in the world.” And—or so thought the
benighted creatures among whom this singular rite was performed—
the dead man’s spirit being hoodwinked into the belief that the chief
of his relations were no longer inhabitants of the world, ceased to
trouble itself further about mundane affairs, and never appeared in
ghostly shape at the midnight couches of living men.
All who were employed in the embalming, which was called muri,
were during the process carefully avoided by every person, as the
guilt of the crime for which the deceased had died was supposed in
some degree to attach to such as touched the body. They did not
feed themselves, lest the food defiled by the touch of their polluted
hands should cause their death, but were fed by others. As soon as
the ceremony of depositing the sin in the hole was over, all who had
touched the dead man or his garments fled precipitately into the sea,
where for a long time they bathed, and came away leaving their
contaminated clothes behind them. At the conclusion of their
ablutions they dived, and brought from the sea-bed some bits of
coral. Bearing these in their hands, their first journey was to the sin-
hole of the defunct, at which the bits of coral were cast, with the
adjuration, “With you may all pollution be!”
On the death of Finow, King of Tonga, Mr. Mariner informs us, the
chiefs and grand company invited to take part in his funeral
obsequies, seated themselves, habited in mats, waiting for the body
of the deceased king to be brought forth. The mourners (who are
always women), consisting of the female relations, widows,
mistresses, and servants of the deceased, and such other females of
some rank who chose out of respect to officiate on such an
occasion, were assembled in the house and seated round the
corpse, which still lay out on the blades of gnatoo. They were all
habited in large old ragged mats—the more ragged the more fit for
the occasion, as being more emblematical of a spirit broken down,
or, as it were, torn to pieces by grief. Their appearance was
calculated to excite pity and sorrow in the heart of anyone, whether

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Multiple Choice Questions

2. Asian Americans are identified in the text as an example of a(an)

3. African Americans are identified in the text as an example of a(an)

4. An ethnic group is a group

5. Characteristics of national origin or distinctive cultural patterns are used primarily by a

7. A minority group is a group

8. Which of the following is a minority group in the U.S.?

9. In sociological terms, members of a minority group

10. In sociological terms, members of a minority group

20. A stereotype is a(an)

24. Which of the following is an example of prejudice?

25. Prejudice is a(n) ________________ while discrimination is a(n) __________________.

26. Ethnocentrism refers to

28. Racism is defined as

30. Hate crime laws are directed at crimes involving issues of

34. Which of the following would not be considered discrimination?

35. Prejudice is to discrimination as

36. The following group has the highest income level:

37. The following group has the lowest income level:

41. Institutional discrimination is the

43. Which of the following illustrates institutional discrimination?

44. Which of the following is considered a form of institutional discrimination?

50. Exploitation theory is a

52. Which of the following is a function of racism?

57. Acts of racial profiling are

58. Interactionists would be concerned about the impact of racial profiling on

59. The contact hypothesis

64. Genocide refers to the process of

65. Expulsion refers to the process of

67. Expulsion was recently illustrated by

68. Amalgamation refers to the process of

72. Which one of the following would not be an example of assimilation?

73. Which of the following equations represents assimilation?

75. Segregation refers to the act of

76. Which of the following would be an example of segregation?

79. Which of the following equations would represent pluralism?

80. Pluralism in the U.S. is considered

85. Jim Crow laws were passed in Southern states to

94. The largest influx of Vietnamese immigration occurred:

96. Which of the following terms refers to first-generation Japanese immigrants?

101. The single most unifying force among Arabs is

True / False Questions

106. Racism is functional in US society.

115. Color-blind racism ignores white privelage.

116. The majority of Arabs are Muslim.

Answers will vary

Answers will vary

Answers will vary

Answers will vary

Answers will vary

Killing to cheat death—Preparing the king’s “grave grass”—The tomb

t by no means follows that a disrespect for human life is

“Mourning Suit of Leaves.”

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25. Prejudice is a(n) while discrimination is a(n) __.